he was shotting an intruder. and it is cinco de mayo. the fifth of may celebrating the mexican the mexican army over the french forces in the battle of puebla back in 1862. it's an excuse to drink for louis. you have to drink the whole thing and eat the worm. that is it for way too early. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ and i'm feeling sorry, believe it or not, for the speaker of the house as well. these days the house republicans actually give john boehner a harder time than they give me. which means orange really is the new black. >> that was one of the really good ones. good morning, everyone. >> speaking of orange, look at that sunrise over new york city.

>> monday morning. may 5th. welcome to "morning joe," everybody. >> that's an orange crush right there. >> yes, it is. on the set we have john heilemann. >> good to have you here. >> hello, heilemann. anything going on with you? >> not much. celebrating the nets victory yesterday, baby. game seven. unbelievable. >> we'll talk. visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. >> professor. >> and in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post" sam stein. we also have editor for "the washington post" david ignatius. with all going on in ukraine, glad you're in early this morning. >> an eventful weekend. willie, happy belated birthday for you. >> thank you. it was a great saturday. it was a derby/birthday combo.

>> how much bourbon did you drink? >> you mean bottles? >> you should have seen the hat he was wearing. >> it was a fascinator. >> you guys in washington, you were at the correspondents -- president was good. >> president was great. >> thought he was funny. >> his performance skills are very high when it comes to these events, i think. has that dry sense of humor. he's got the great second beat on those jokes. >> we'll stay on it. more of the jokes at the white house correspondents dinner. >> we cannot believe what these olympic athletes do. death defying feats. haven't seen someone pull a 180 that fast since rand paul disinvited that nevada rancher from this dinner. as a general rule, things don't

end well if the sentence starts "let me tell you something i know about the negro." just a tip for you. don't start your sentence that way. now that it's 2014, washington is obsessed on the midterms. folks are saying that with my sagging poll in numbers, my fellow democrats don't want me campaigning with them. i don't think that's true although i did notice the other day that sasha needed a speaker at career day and she invited bill clinton. washington seems more dysfunctional than ever. gridlock has gotten so bad in this town, you have to wonder, what'd we do to piss off chris christie so bad? >> that was a good line. >> okay. so that was joel mchale. we'll get to that in a second. he's star of "the community."

did he talk about chris christie? >> he sure did. let's roll it. >> i know it's been a long night, but i promise that tonight will be both amusing and over quickly just like chris christie's presidential bid. i got a lot of these tonight, so buckle up, governor christie. excuse me. extender buckle up. all right. governor, do you want bridge jokes or size jokes? i got a bunch of both. i can go half and half. i know you like a combo platter. now, i get that. i'm sorry for that joke, governor christie. i didn't know i was going to tell it. but i take full responsibility for it. whoever wrote it will be fired. but the buck stops here. so i will be a man and own up to it just as soon as i get to the bottom of how it happened, because i was unaware it happened until just now. i'm appointing a commission of me to investigate the joke i

just told. and if i find any wrong doing on my part, i assure you i will be dealt with. i just looked into it. it turns out i'm not responsible for it. justice has been served. >> okay. joel mchale was adorable, i think, first of all. >> good guy. and by the way, chris christie not only laughing at the jokes at the party, but was laughing after the party. he and mchale were together. people on tv thought it was a cheap shot. chris christie and mary pat were laughing and posed for pictures with him. >> and we kind of had a run in with him. >> you know what? there's a -- we were comparing book notes. willie, as you know, i'm selling a lot of books in new hampshire. and i was selling more. he was commenting on how many books i'm selling in new hampshire. i said i'm selling more books in new hampshire than you will ever sell. >> this went on for a good eight

minutes. >> it's publishing trash talk. >> it is. both of us are men of letters and both of us are taken by how much the good people of new hampshire love to read. >> they love to read. >> are you monitoring the independent book sales at store by store basis. >> duh. of course we are. of course we are. dropped by one in concord this weekend. >> we were waiting to take pictures and this happened. willie, this went on for, like, eight minutes. seriously. >> the book talk? >> the book trash talk. >> wow. >> i changed to samsung. i had new numbers. >> mika runs up to chris christie and tried to explain it. like you can't talk in shorthand like that. so we went up and mika went up and said i'm texting you, why aren't you returning your calls. he said i'm not getting them.

she explained it was the phone. i said mika always thought it was the phone. i said you were a really big skinned jerk and that was probably why. and he laughed. >> so he's good? >> mika had the wrong number. i'm telling you, the drugs, you can't see. even a big screen like this. it's hard to see the big screen. you know? >> just stop. >> she was sending texts to chris cross instead of chris christie. >> can i get their number by the way? >> sure. >> more of those photos can be seen at vanity fair portraits. >> there's our son. >> who's that? >> that's ronan. >> our handsy son. he's a naughty child. and there was a -- eric holder has decided that you're going to run for office and he's going to take your job. so we did -- >> oh, yeah. he said why don't we do a freaky friday switch.

here he is. he wants it to be morning eric and he and mika were trying out for that cable news. you know, he's the former attorney general, she's a former whatever you are former. >> whatever. thanks, guys. >> then morning eric. what do you think? that would be a great poster. >> i'd watch that show. >> of course you'd watch that show. >> title it with holder somehow. >> she suggested morning ric. take the e off. >> i don't know. vanity fair party was fun. the correspondents dinner was, i think, a success. i guess. >> let's move on. i'm bored. >> okay. for the reason now that we have such an elegant panel, we're go i think to start with ukraine where violence is spreading deeper with clashes now erupting in that country's third largest city. hundreds of pro-russian militants stormed police headquarters on sunday demanding that fellow separatists be

released. the men smashed open the door of the police station and broke windows and security cameras. five dozen militants were freed with little resistance from police. the men were being held in connection to deadly reactions on friday which left many dead. it was the worst violence in that country since february. the u.s. ambassador to ukraine is now demanding an investigation into the increasing violence and if moscow is behind it. meanwhile, michael mcfaul, the former u.s. ambassador to russia is warning that russia could be in the final stages of preparing for a full scale invasion. >> david ignatius, the ukrainian government says it's protecting its own citizens from pro-russia militias. now we hear russia saying they have to protect russian-speaking people from the government. what are we seeing this morning? >> we're seeing the inability of

any government to maintain safety and security in ukraine. which means that the violence is getting worse and the calls for some kind of intervention are growing. the obama administration's biggest hope is that somehow if ukraine can stumble through to elections on may 25 when there'll be a new government and a sense the administration hopes of legitimacy for a government that could crack down, restore orders, defend its borders, et cetera. and the terrible irony of the russians demanding safety for these poor protesters in eastern ukraine. many think the russians have been encouraging the protesters to grab the airport, a television tower. now they're demanding someone maybe even the russians come in and restore order. it's been increasingly chaotic demonstration. it's shows the weakness of the ukrainian government. above all, it illustrates the

russians' basic comfort level with this chaotic ukraine on the way to elections on may 25th. >> okay. i'm going to grab a thought that i read recently about the situation in ukraine. especially as it pertains to american leadership. because some can put this as black and white, america is not strong. the president is not strong enough. but i read recently that it's sort of like getting in a fight when you're trying to get a divorce. it's not that easy. because you want to make your point without hurting the whole situation, the whole family. >> how the united states should use its enormous power to deter vladimir putin from invading eastern ukraine just as he invaded crimea a month ago is the question that's really haunting washington. we had a map in "the washington post" over the weekend that showed the battle lines for a war between russia and ukraine. i haven't seen anything like that since history books, you

know, after the fall of berlin in 1945. it's just stunning to see that. the administration keeps saying when you push them that its policy is to make it so costly for putin to keep pushing in ukraine, that he'll think twice. he'll stop. >> of course as you know, the ruble and the russian stock market have gone up since we've -- >> things are beginning to -- >> no, since we put the sanctions in place. these sanctions are so insignificant that they're not going to deter somebody like putin, are they? >> you know, joe, the recovery in the russian currency and markets is after a significant fall. so in absolute terms, it's not a great period for russia. i think it is fair to say that obama has been holding in reserve partly because europe is not comfortable yet with heavy duty sanctions. the kind of sanctions that would hit the export industries,

principally energy and weapons. if the russians move, if their tanks roll across the frontier in ukraine, i would guess president obama would have merkel with him in imposing sanctions that would make things hurt for russia. but by that time it's too late. the tanks were already in. so no question that obama's taken a go-slow approach to this. >> all right. some political news now. new indicators show rough waters ahead for the democrats in the midterms. a pugh research/usa today poll shows republicans have their biggest advantage in two decades. numbs shows voters shifting away from democrats over the last six months. a majority of voters say the president isn't a factor in their vote, but the number of democrats voting in support of the president's record has fallen 16 points since the 2010 elections. the number of republicans voting

against his agenda has increased. still when compared to this point when george w. bush was president, the president's approval is nine points higher. voters have showed a deep desire for change during both presidents' second term saying it's time for different policies. >> john heilemann, we have a flurry of polls. willie and i were talking about this last week, two weeks ago. democrats looking better this past week. republicans looking better. now this pew poll suggests big trouble. also on the "usa today," health spending. this is going to drive the first half of the week as far as the debate goes. health spending up the fastest in 34 years. and in the lead, the "usa today" blames obamacare. >> look. we saw three polls last week, right? we started early last week with

the abc/"washington post" poll. then the other poll that seemed kipt. and now this poll. we've had three in a row now from big organizations with big sample sizes who have good records that suggest that maybe what happened with the obamacare 8 million number was more of a blip and that we're actually settling into what i think a lot of people thought the prevailing trend lines would be which is republicans are in a strong position in the midterms and obamacare is going to be by no means a winning -- on the macro level, not a winning issue for democrats. they'll have to be fighting for their lives in general and on that issue going forward. >> harold, it's only may as you and i know more happens in campaigns in six days than let alone six days. but you look atted t the headli. biggest advantage for republicans in two decades. what did democrats do six months

out? >> another headline talks about the violence in ukraine. i think there's a sense if you have an everyday hard-working american and you are struggling and working to support their family and you read the political headlines and trends out of washington, just don't bode well for the party in charge. second, you consider the states where you have these elections. states that romney performed well in. states where the health care plan and some of the other things a president is doing or has done is less popular than they are in other states. and finally, i think you showed the numbers between george w. bush and the president in terms of the approval ratings. remember in 2006, democrats cleaned up. if you're democrats, even though it's only may, you have to begin to think now how do you shift a bit on things that would help you? >> we're starting to see keystone, harry reid trying to help. >> help some democrats around.

>> helps us as home on manufacturing. helps foreign policy. but you know, willie, it's -- you're starting to see harry reid and you're starting to see other democrats talk about keystone. this energy issue is going to be a big issue because it's about jobs. for once it's not the republicans the base that's pulling them away from where middle america is. democrats have a lot of challenges. >> they do. maybe harry reid's talking about it, but there's still a lot of democrats who are not going to move on the keystone pipe line. maybe there's some deal to use it as a chip for something else. >> the president could just do that. >> that's right. sam, you're looking at these numbers. the piece in the "usa today" says these numbers show the strongest tilt towards republicans in the last couple decades. including stronger than before 2010. republican strategists if you talk to them privately, they're

feeling good about this obviously about holding the house but taking the senate as well. >> yeah. i mean, i've said it before and i'll say it again. the best thing the democrats have going for them right now is they had a huge wave loss in 2010. there's fewer seats for them to lose in the house than they would otherwise. the house is a problem when you have so many seats in states that went to romney that holding the majority seems tenuous. that said, looking at national polls is silly. each individual race has its own dynamic. for example, in arkansas where you would imagine is democrat would be really suffering under the burdens of the health care law, a poor economy, sagging approval numbers, mark potter is not that poorly positioned. you do have to look to respect to the senate state by state. one thing i'd add with health care spending which is a scary headline is that the charts early on when they were on

kbbcare suggested a very spike in 2014 because millions more people were going to get coverage and spend on health care at the time. we have to wait and see what happens after this spike to see if they continue going down which they were before. it could just be tied to the bad economy. but if the recent trends continue and we have more health care spending, then we're in real trouble basically. >> all right. we're going to keep talking about this. obviously more on ukraine and foreign policy straight ahead with david ignatius. >> oh, yeah. coming up in the 7:00 hour, chuck schumer is here on set. he brought with him an interesting chart on the big fight over raising the minimum wage. >> i'm going to debate him on that chart, the minimum wage, and ask if he would trade keystone for a rise in minimum wage. help workers on both sides of that equation. i'll see if he loves the working man as much as i do. >> i want to see if his chart is more interesting than rattner's. i don't think if that's possible.

also a new investigation into the benghazi attacks. >> i'm also going to ask him what happened in ireland when jerry adams was arrested. a strange move considering where the peace talks have been going. >> then live in our 8:00 hour, senator joe manchin is here in the studio and senator tim kaine on his backing for hillary 2016. >> willie and i was -- what did we say this was? >> yeah. >> full throated. yes. >> okay. all right. >> thank you for being there with me, willie. up next, a tragic circus accident leaves a group of performers in critical condition. also ben affleck caught counting cards in las vegas? we'll explain it on morning papers. and jim gaffigan joins us on set. >> i don't know if you can tell by my beard, but i'm fat. i don't know what happened.

all i did was eat constantly and then boom i'm fat. seems unfair. >> but first if it was only that simple, here's bill kairns with a check on the forecast. >> good stuff, you guys. we got done with a pretty nice weekend on the eastern seaboard. rain showers in new england yesterday. the heat was the real story, though. everywhere in the red on this map shows you where it was 80 degrees yesterday from d.c. all through the deep south. but the one highlight was the central plains. it was 102 in wichita, kansas. they were off to the driest start to the year ever since the dust bowl in the mid-'30s. with the windy conditions -- this was in oklahoma yesterday. they had me vacuations. a couple structures burned down. you could see one of them there. the way the wind was blowing those flames. another dangerous day in the plains today.

what's cruel about the central u.s., even though it was 100 there, it was snowing in northern wisconsin. still very chilly weather remains through the great lakes. there's still some ice on the great lakes from the winter. i think it was 20% ice still left. so chilly today. chicago only a 56 for your high. but we're warm with with a brush fire threat in the middle of the country. we're looking nice in new england. maybe a stray shower or two in maine. but the rest of the region is looking very nice. a perfect spring day for you. and the next five days, the only really big storm we're going to have should bring rain to the northern plains. weld like to get some of this rain in texas and arkansas. that doesn't occur until about thursday. nice week ahead for much of the country. i don't think any tornado threats at all. which is great especially after what we dealt with last week. washington, d.c. was the big scene for the correspondents dinner. here's one more humorous joke. >> the vice president isn't here tonight not for security

reasons. he just thought this event was being held at the dulles airport applebees. yes. right now he's elbow deep in jalapeno poppers and talking to a construction cone he thinks is john boehner. also true. ♪

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honestly, the off-season isn't i've got a lot to do.

that's why i got my surface. it's great for watching game film and drawing up plays. it's got onenote, so i can stay on top of my to-do list, which has been absolutely absurd since the big game. with skype, it's just really easy to stay in touch with the kids i work with. alright, russell you are good to go! alright, fellas. alright, russ. back to work! ♪ time now to take a look at the morning papers. the providence journal. eight female acrobats and one man on the ground are recovering after a beam fell 30 feet to the ground in a circus accident. it may be graphic for some viewers here. ♪

>> oh, my god. >> the eight injured acrobats are all out of surgery. one performer is still in critical condition with internal bleeding. others recovering with broken bones. this morning's performance canceled. >> that was absolutely horrific. oh, my gosh. the oklahoman, firefighters in guthrie, oklahoma, are battling a massive wildfire that's killed one and destroyed six homes. the fire began yesterday afternoon after a controlled burn got out of hands. strong winds and dry weather fuel it this morning. nearly 3,000 acres burned so far. >> the star ledge ebb. condoleezza rice will not give the commencement appearance at rutgers after protests. calling for the university to disinvite rice. >> how stupid on these students.

>> students are upset about her support of the war in iraq. she was set to receive $35,000 for the appearance. >> that is absolute insanity. here you have the first african-american female woman to be secretary of state in the united states of america. what a wonderful example not only could she set for these students, but she has been setting at stanford. one of the greatest colleges in the world where she's been provost and head of student affairs. i mean, serious -- i'm sorry. where is the rutgers community standing up for academic freedom? i would urge her -- i would bend over backwards. you talk about political correctness run amok, this is absolute insanity. >> yeah. and universities are supposed to be the place where ideas are exchanged, where your mind is open to all points of view. what a disgrace actually. >> agree with me 100% of the

time or you're not allowed to come to an institution that's supposed to be about higher learning. and the frequee market place of ideas. do you know how many speakers students had to listen to at their universities? how many times they had to sit and have their views and their values mocked and ridiculed? you know what they did? they sat in those seats. because they don't get the kind of treatment. i cannot believe -- rutgers needs to bend over backwards to get there. >> they ought to review that. the san francisco chronicle, for the first time in more than two weeks, court is back in session for former olympian oscar pistorius. the first person to arrive at his home the night of reeva steenkamp's death, he described a very emotional scene. >> it's not something i would like to experience again, my lady.

it was a young man walking down the stairs with a lady, with a young woman in his arms. and the scene you see, the expression of sorrow, the expression of pain. >> pistorius claims he mistook steenkamp for an intruder. >> seriously, how long is this trial going to go on? let me help you. the guy's guilty. "new york times," a new study suggests the secret to reversing aging may lie in the blood of the young. research from harvard and stanford university found the blood of young mice rejuvenated the brain's muscles of older mice. also found drastic improvement to every tissue in tnthe bodiesf older mice.

>> ben affleck found himself in hot water at the hard rock last week accused of counting cards. he was approached by security for being too good at blackjack and was asked to leave the premises. quote, he is not banned from our property and is welcome back any time. >> good to know. >> unlike willie. >> no. willie's too good. >> just to reiterate, counting cards not illegal. just frowned upon. >> i don't understand what it is. >> with us now on the set in the flesh, white house correspondent for politico, mike allen. mike, good morning. >> happy cinco de monday. >> holy cow. >> you've got to piece on michael hirsch. the hillary industrial complex. we know what it is basically. but take us inside what this looks like.

if the runs for president, what heat will she feel about benghazi? >> this is a piece by michael hirsch who's the national editor of politico magazine. he pointed out that benghazi is becoming to this decade what vince foster, white waterwere in the '90s. from mentions of hillary in twitter recent days. 219,000 mentions of benghazi. he calls it the social media twin. this is something that fires up the republican base, but even though the white house hates this topic, democrats in general like it because it helps reinforce their views of the republican base as right wing nuts. >> if you're hillary clinton or if you're running hillary clinton's campaign, should there be a campaign, are you generally concerned in a general election about the idea of benghazi? or is that sort of confined to a republican primary? >> of course you are. the question is whether it's about competition of ideology.

at the moment because republicans perhaps overplaying their hand as they seem all too ready to do calling for appointing special committee, more subpoenas. but if it becomes a question about secretary clinton's competence especially at a time when the world events we're talking about at the top of the show, we have not a lot of accomplishments to talk about, then it's a problem. >> harold ford, would you be worried about it? >> the question i have is you've seen polling. where do the american people rank this in terms of -- >> low. and the story points out it's unlikely to hurt her with the voters. it's how she ramps up this campaign. so when she goes out with her book tour starting in june, she wants to be talking about her vision for the future. she wants to talk, remind people of why they used to like the clintons. this at this moment is this big

topic that no interviewer can fail to ask about and it's all about the past. that's not what you want. >> people will believe that hillary clinton is not a patriot, doesn't care deeply about the country, doesn't care deeply about our assets around the globe. and if the purpose is trying to suggest that, i think it's going to fall on deafer ears than some would think. >> i think that'd be the case. before we go, nobody's more plugged into washington than you are. what was the review of the white house correspondents dinner over the weekend? >> people thought the president was much tougher on himself than he's been in the past. his great line, sasha needed a speaker for career day, she chose bill clinton. that perfectly captured it in the weekend. >> mike allen with a look inside the play book. thank you. coming up next on "morning joe," a group of marines let it go while watching disney's

"frozen." but first the off-season gamble paying off in a big way. and joe johnson with a big fourth quarter. the nets advance across the toronto raptors. highlights next. ♪ [bell rings] [prof. burke] at farmers,we believe what you don't know can hurt you. like what if you didn't know to get coverage for uninsured drivers? [robot] uh oh. [prof. burke] talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪ that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase. not just "everything at the hardware store." not "everything, until you hit your cash back limit." quicksilver can earn you unlimited 1.5% cash back

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♪ all right. let's do some sports. a couple of game seven playoff matchups in the nba. there were three of them on saturday. >> only one matters. >> two yesterday. let's start with the raptors hosting the nets. by the way, how great are the fans in toronto? going crazy. full force. packing even outside. nets try to inbound with the one-point lead. the pass knocked away. what a play right here. throws the ball off the nets player and goes out of bounds. they get the ball back now with a chance to win the game. >> here is lowrie on the deck. puts it up. it's blocked by pierce! and the nets win the series! >> paul pierce with the monster block. the old man getting it done. john heilemann is a huge nets fan. the old guys getting it done. they win game seven on the road. they move on to play the heat. great win. >> great win. double double for kevin garnett.

his best game of the season. paul pierce right there, the truth, showing why he can still get it done. you know, it's great for this next series. because toronto has a terrible time with miami. brooklyn beat miami four times this year. >> swept them. >> did they really? >> yeah. >> miami is the obvious favorite, but brooklyn has figured out miami at least during the regular season. >> san antonio also won game seven of its series against the mavs. now they move on to face the blazers. tonight the wizards host the pacer. and the clippers go to oklahoma city to play the thunder. >> harold, who do you like? >> the wizards look good. pacers look shaky. i like the nets. the nets push it to seven. if garnett and pierce don't have to over-play early in the series, they're the only team that can beat the heat. >> they're a good team. as are the raptors. the raptors will be a power in the east over the next few

years. >> let's go to the ice. round two of the stanley cup playoffs yesterday. >> out to center. in a two on one. moving in. scores! >> letang on the side. to james neil. neil, rebound. goal! >> so the penguins win theirs 3-0. they even up with the rangers. the rangers stole game one on the road. and the ducks looking to even things up with the kings. >> rangers have a shot. >> yeah. they're 1-1 coming back to the garden. they've got a good shot. >> you saw the blackhawks winning their game up 2-o on the wild. >> a lot of crazy ranger fans. in a good way. >> hockey fans are intense. let's go to baseball now. some of the top plays out of the big leagues yesterday. >> first pitch swinging, slow roller.

not in time. padres win! >> down the line. on his way to third. picked up by davis. they're going to wave him around. reds win! >> to right. it's well hit. at the wall. ball game! >> there's a shot. back into center. got some carry. ellsbury will go to the wall. off the wall bounding off ellsbury. rolling towards right center. jennings scores. longoria scores. they're going to wave will meyers. it's an inside-the-park home run. >> that's just embarrassing. >> especially for els burr are i. a guy you've got to root for -- actually, i'm rooting against him this season. >> the yankees are in first place by a half game. derek jeter welcomed a special guest to the stadium. peyton manning.

two of the all-time greats hanging out. yankees don't play the rockies this season so manning came to the bronx to pay respect to jeter in his final season. peyton watched that up in the box with eli. still ahead at the top of our 7:00 hour, peter king of new york says democrats would be, quote, terribly arrogant if they block another investigation into the benghazi attacks. then joe manchin on set on the fight to increase the minimum wage. but up next mika's must read opinion pages. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ ♪

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♪ i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. feel like a knot. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like bricks piling up. i wish i could find some relief. (announcer) ask your doctor about linzess-- a once-daily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation

or chronic idiopathic constipation. linzess is thought to help calm pai pain-sensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements. it helps you proactively manage your symptoms. do not give linzess to children under 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain especially with bloody or black stools the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. bottom line, ask your doctor about linzess today. ♪ time now for the must read opinion pages. david ignatius, want to read this one to you especially.

"the new york times" editorial board writes president obama and the world two years after winning an election in which foreign policy was barely mentioned, president obama is being pummelled at home and abroad for his international leadership. the world sometimes seems it is flying apart with mr. obama unable to fix it. through a combination of a few significant missteps, circumstances beyond his control, unreasonable expectations, and his bland demeanor, he doesn't walk around with his shirt off? i don't get it. in key respects mr. obama is precisely the foreign policy president that most americans and allies overseas wanted. he rejected the shoot first tendencies of president bush. but he has been blamed for his own foreign policy taken as a whole and stripped as much as

possible of ideological blinkers. mr. obama's record is not as bad as his critics say. it's just not good enough. so is it just a set of examples that are beyond his control? >> that editorial is fascinating because it has all the different instances in which obama has struggled to get a lot of success. i think most people would agree with him avoiding use of force in these battle grounds of the middle east. it makes sense. not overreacting to ukraine makes sense. yet when you add it up, there is something missing. my own answer would be there are two things. the first is communicating to the american people and the world. this president doesn't do that as much as he needs to on foreign policy. second is credibility. people ask well, he doesn't

fight this war or that war. what war would he fight? where would he draw the lines and mean it? i think the president is going to have to make clearer to the world precisely what he's prepared to do in an increasingly messy and dangerous situation especially in ukraine. >> sam stein, building on the comment david just made, do you think what's lacking in the president's foreign policy is some overarching aim or goal that seems to not define or give policy makers a sense of not only where we would fight but what our goals are around the globe? >> to piggyback on what david said and i'm curious what the panel would say. i read "the new york times" editorial and stepped back and asked myself, what would you say if someone asked what was the obama doctrine? you couldn't answer that question. with respect to george w. bush you knew what his broader foreign policy is. i couldn't decide whether defenders would say his prudence, i would guess. critics say overly cautiousness.

i'm curious what people think. there doesn't seem to be at this juncture and we're six years in, a definitive obama doctrine with respect to foreign policy. i couldn't pinpoint one myself. >> i'm not sure that's a bad thing. >> it might not be. i don't know. >> sam, i will tell you, you've asked the question here. stricken of the ideological binders and just talk to the ambassadors across the world, the foreign leaders across the world, and david ignatius has heard this more than any of us. if i'm wrong, let me know. that is the critique of the obama administration. that there's no over-arching policy. there's no vision. it is ad hoc in its approach. and again, this is not an ideological take. we have been hearing this from foreign policy leaders for four or five years. >> joe, i travel all over the world and i do hear that. there's a perception that this president is weak. problem is when you're perceived as weak, you're expected to do

rash things to show you're not. i'm glad the president isn't doing that. >> not worried he'll be rash. >> bland personality. >> all right. coming up at the top of the hour, senator chuck schumer joins us on set. also they say lumber jacking may be the most dangerous profession in the world. and this video -- >> oh! oh no! >> -- shows why when we return. >> oh, my gosh. ames becomes? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! a "selling machine!" ready for you alert, only at lq.com. they're the days to take care of business.. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs.

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this is where we bring together reliably fast internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. ♪

here we go. >> it's great. little girls love this. >> they love it. and they'll watch it over and over. >> i love little girls singing this. >> kids love it. moms and dads love it. we've seen a million parodies of "let it go." we have one more because it's from the united states marine corps. ♪ be the good girl you always had to be ♪ ♪ conceal don't feel ♪ don't let them know ♪ well now they know ♪ let it go ♪ let it go ♪ can't hold me back anymore ♪ i'm never going back ♪ the past is in the past ♪ let it go >> yeah! yeah! whoo!

>> that is so good. that video went crazy online after posted on facebook by a marine in texas. that is so good. another piece of viral video, check this out. a lumber jack shouting safety instructions while trimming a big branch off the tree. >> you've got to be safe when you do this. >> oh! jeez. >> wow. >> no! >> that was last week in michigan. the man who posted the video says the guy on the ladder was not seriously hurt. >> how is that not. >> reporter: how can he not get hurt? it's like one of those trees in lord of the rings. the arms and everything. that's crazy. everyone's okay. >> thank you.

that was disturbing video. thank you very much. can you make news you can't use happy, please? >> well, the marine thing was uplifting. >> that was cute. >> like the hamster eating the burritos? >> do that top of the hour for cinco de mayo. we'll show it to chuck schumer and see what he thinks about it. still ahead, a man who makes a living making fun of food. >> nothing tastes as good as thin. i could think of a thousand things. even unsalted french fries taste better than thin. you ever eat fries without salt on them? these fries could use salt, but that means i'd have to get up and move. i'd just imagine there's salt on them. >> comedian jim gaffigan is here.

but first our own democratic convention. joeman shin and tim kaine join us. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ shcan print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ my mom works at ge. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

or how ornate the halls are. tall the building is, it doesn't matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. when working with an investment firm, what's really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. chuck vo: standing by your word, that's what matters the most. but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men.

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♪ as it stands right now, the republican presidential nominee will either be jeb bush, rand paul, or a bag of flour with ronald reagan's face drawn on it. bag of flour! all right.

people are asking, will donald trump run again? and the answer is, does that thing on his head crap in the woods? i actually don't know. i don't know if that thing on his head has a digestive system. >> welcome back to "morning joe." joining us on set. the senior senator from new york, democratic senator chuck schumer. and from washington, nbc news white house correspondent and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. chuck and chuck. we're going to talk about your chart and the minimum wage in just a moment. that was a good dinner. >> it was a great dinner. i enjoyed it. president was good. and mchale was good. >> mchale was adorable. here are some of the highlights from the responsibilities

dinner. >> olympic snow boarding medalist is here. we cannot believe what they do. death defying feats. haven't seen someone pull a 180 that fast since rand paul disinvited that nevada rancher from this dinner. as a general rule, things don't end well if the sentence started, "let me tell you something i know about the negro." just a tip for you. don't start your sentence that way. now that it's 2014, washington is obsessed on the midterms. folks are saying that with my sagging poll numbers, my fellow democrats don't really want me campaigning with them. and i don't think that's true, although i did notice the other day that sasha needed a speaker at career day and she invited bill clinton. >> mr. president, you have to

admit, and you already have, the launch of healthcare.gov was a disaster. it was so bad. it was bad. look, i don't even have an analogy because the website is now the thing people use to describe other bad things. they say stuff like, i shouldn't have eaten that sushi. i was up all night healthcare.gov'ing. boy, that latest johnny depp movie really healthcare.gov'd at the box office. look at my new rug. did the dogs healthcare.gov on it? you can't get that out of shag. >> that was funny. he was really good. >> yeah. it was a good night. >> so we've got a lot to talk about. >> we do. why don't we start quickly, though, a couple quick things. minimum wage. harold and i were talking about it before. joe manchin is coming on. how about a deal on minimum wage

where we help workers where you raise the minimum wage not to the $10.10 because democrats aren't going to get that. but maybe to $8.50, $9.00 in exchange for keystone. >> i think that's part of our bill on energy efficiency next week. we're willing to see a vote on keystone. each side thinks they're going to win. keystone is a lot less important than it used to be. since it started there's a ton of oil and gas here in the u.s. we used to say if it's not from canada, it's in the middle east. now we're talking about exporting it. >> let's not move the goal posts. keystone's still important, isn't it? >> it's a job issue and a safety issue. we're going to transport it by rail or water. natural gas exports, why not increase that as well? >> 9,000 -- last month 288,000 jobs. keystone, 9,000 jobs. it is not the issue that each

sides is making it to be. so minimum wage -- on minimum wage, why is $10.10 important to us? >> i want to go back to keystone for a second. >> okay. go ahead. >> pennsylvania is creating jobs across the state in pennsylvania that's not being created across new york state because this governor, the state legislature are over-regulating fracking. why don't we bring good jobs to upstate new york? they need good jobs. you're their senator. >> yes. >> what do you say to albany to get those good jobs in pennsylvania in upstate new york? >> well, i haven't stepped on the governor's issue on this one. he's being very careful because there are environmental concerns. but overall -- >> shouldn't he be a little less careful? >> overall democrats throughout the country has supported fracking. most of us have and it's worked well. >> would you like to see it in upstate new york? >> if it's done carefully. the governor feels it's going to

be done carefully, i sure would. >> you would? >> wow. well, you are just like -- >> good. we need it. >> do you think there has to be a deal on minimum wage where you split the baby, the republicans get something they want. democrats get something they want. >> now here's something we can use for a visual. like rattner on this show. >> that's pretty good. that's attractive. >> here's the minimum wage chart. we created 288,000 new jobs. jobs are going up. private sector jobs. but wages are going down. they're paying so much less there's less money in the average middle class person's pocket. there's a good argument for minimum wage. >> since the early 1970s, they've been going down. >> look, i hear you.

>> so that's why $10.10 is important for one reason. and important to us. which is it's the bare minimum, you work 40 hours a week and you get out of poverty. why we push it, you should have a fair shot of getting out of poverty if you work 40 hours a week. can you negotiate on the length of time on seasonal workers on other things? yes. and we've told our republican colleagues we would negotiate. but i'll make a prediction here. just like unemployment insurance, they know they're on the wrong side here. we'll get a deal on minimum wage within the next six months. >> i don't disagree with you. we should index it to inflation. but there has to be a deal. president clinton gave a big speech where he talked about how he was criticized for cutting the capital gains tax. he got 6 million children health insurance. he got 9 million people moved out of poverty. the only question joe's asking is how do we cut a deal? you can have that conversation offline. but natural gas exports will help overseas, create jobs at

home, and a larger stockpile of energy. there has to be some give and take there. >> we'll get a deal on minimum wage. there will be some kind of compromise. there are lots of different areas of compromise. and it'll happen. it's just that $10.10 is a pretty strong feeling on our side because it's the bare minimum out of poverty. if minimum wage back in 1960s with inflation would be $10.71 right now. >> senator, we had your colleague tom coburn on last week. he said there shouldn't be a federal minimum wage. the free market ought to take care of it. what do you think of those who oppose minimum wage, that it leads to the loss of jobs? >> economists are on both sides of that. i think what they don't do, those who say it will lose jobs, forget about all the money that would be pumped into the economy. >> i know. >> that creates. and they don't believe in that because that's dynamic scoring

on our side. i want to bring up one thing, our next fair shot agenda item. this week elizabeth warren will introduce legislation on making it easier to pay for college. two parts. first, you should be able to refinance. in other words, there are tens of millions of young people and their families who are paying on hundreds of thousands of loans. you should be able to get it down to 3%. we're going to push that. by the way, this is one of the biggest things hurting the market. >> i totally agree. let's have elisabeth on this week as well. >> we're pushing this middle class agenda. >> i agree. let me ask you about the midterm elections. >> new indicators show rough waters ahead for democrats. front page in the usa today, take us through that. >> the poll says republicans

have their biggest advantage in two decades. numbers show voters shifting away from supporting democrats over the last six months. a majority of voters say the president isn't a factor in their vote. but the number of democrats voting in support of the president's record has fallen 16 points since the 2010 elections. the number of republicans voting against his agenda has increased still. when compared to this point and george w. bush's presidency, the president's approval is nine points higher. voters have showed a deep desire for change during both presidents' second term. >> chuck todd, look at the usa today, not good news. not good news about the polls showing democrats not in good shape right now. that changes every week and a half. but look up top. i think you're going to see republicans holding this headline all day. health care spending up the most since 1980. of course it's only the first

quarter, but we're going to be having this debate over the next six months as well. what do you make of these polls? the nbc news poll, the abc news poll. it does look like democrats have some tough sledding ahead over the next few months? >> it's may. the best number they have to tout is the one that happened on friday. right? it's that jobs number. you know, the one unknown here is, you know, we've been told for three years that if there were some form of government certainty, then private sector in the economy would start to take off. we'd start to see some consistent moves. they got their budget deal in december. so we have a -- we have sort of two years of certainty. there are no major things that are sort of up in the air between the two parties right now between congress and the president. there's no giant standoff. if -- you know, the what if there is three or four straight months of what we saw on friday

where you have nearly 250,000 to 300,000 jobs created over that period? does that change the mind-set? to me it's about the only thing that could change the dynamic. because it does feel like we're not yet in concrete, but it's certainly a very heavy mix. it's drying quickly. that is of concern to democrats. the only thing that could change this dynamic, i think, is sort of this -- an economy that starts taking off that the public believes is taking off. >> sam stein, the sub-head on this top story, more americans visiting hospitals under obamacare. but last hour, though, you dug into the numbers. what do you find? >> well, this is sort of what was predicted when they were gaming out how the affordable care act would play out. which is as soon as you had a couple million people getting insurance for the first time, they would see doctors, they would go to hospitals. health care spending would spike. now, prior to this, health care

spending had been on decline. the question was was that because of obamacare or because of a sagging economy? i think we need to look ahead. i mean, the next couple months will be a big indication of whether or not health care spending is out of control. for the senator, i'm kind of curious along these lines. where is obamacare politically at this juncture? it's hard to tell on the polls whether democrats have gained anything from those enrolled? how will it play in november? >> two things. i think the negatives will be somewhat lower. the positives will be somewhat higher. i'm not sure it will be in that positive. but i do think it will be less bad. i do think this and this is what all the polls show. joe's question is right. the good thing in the polls and that's why we're focusing on the

agenda. whether it's middle class wanls, whether it's getting the economy going, whether it's health care, anything like that. so when we talk about substantive issues, we win. and that's -- we're trying to get the agenda back. i think by november the kind of issues we're talking about, college affordability, equal pay, minimum wage, jobs going overseas. will predominate over obamacare. they fired their shot a little too soon. >> all right. >> willie? >> do you think if you look at obamacare more broadly as sam stein pointed out in the last hour, it's difficult to talk about national polls because each state is different this time around. but if you talk to republicans they feel there's a wind at their back. how do you feel about the senate? >> i feel we're going to keep the senate. >> you do? >> yeah. you look at the four key races. alaska, arkansas, louisiana, north carolina where we have incumbents in red states. they're ahead in each one. even kay hagen is ahead by two, but she's had $12 million of

unanswered commercials against her. and she hasn't even begun to put on her positives or go after her opponent whoever it's going to be negatives. so i think if you look -- this is how it always is. nationally it looks better for republicans right now. mainly because middle class incomes are declining. what we talked about here. and the public is sour. >> all right. >> but state by state looks much better for us. we will keep the senate. >> texas governor rick perry -- i want you to stay for this one -- has been mentioned among potential 2016 contenders. >> good luck. >> is being candid about -- my god. senator schumer. >> last time i checked, he's not on any rolls in republican primaries. rick perry is just fine. he talked about his disappointing bid for 2012. but he also suggested the door is far from closed for a political comeback. >> you ran in 2012. a lot of people thought that was a botched effort on your part.

how do you get a second look now? >> i would tend to agree with them on the botched effort side of it. >> what went wrong? >> listen, i think america is a place that believes in second chances. i think that we see more character out of an individual by how do you perform after you fail and you go forward. >> in kentucky, multiple horse races converged at churchill downs. mitch mcconnell tweeted this photo inside the track. but it was senator rand paul who drew the most attention hosting media mogul rupert murdoch around the luxury boxes. murdoch, no no vis when it comes to the matters of political imagery, allowed himself to be paraded around for six hours like a prized horse behind a proud jockey. amounted to a message to more establishment republicans that as he put it, i'm very open minded. >> chuck todd, if you follow

rupert murdoch's history in endorsing candidates, anything is possible including a possible endorsement of rand paul or hillary clinton. i think much more likely to endorse hillary clinton than any republican senator out there right now. but let's talk about the first thing. i've got to say, again, we absolutely pounded rick perry around this table in 2012 for good reason. he wasn't ready to run. he had some back problems, on medication for that. i know about that better than anybody else as far as what back pain does to you. this guy's looking pretty good in the early stages. are you a skeptic? >> you know, i know we're supposed to be skeptical of him because of it was such a poor effort. there's a part of me saying where's he going to raise the money this time? it's going to be harder for him to convince the major donors. that guy who showed up to "meet the press" yesterday, he's very comfortable in his own skin.

there's something about when a candidate loses and accepts responsibility for the loss, it's amazing they can turn around. look. we have a history of our presidents having been humbled by an embarrassing loss. barack obama got thumped in a campaign for congress. bill clinton lost a re-election campaign for governor that was probably the most campaign he ever ran. losing made him a better candidate. george w. bush lost his first race for congress. you know, losing can do that, can humble you in a way. i have to say i thought rick perry seemed like a happy warrior to me. you could see him just sort of being this sort of tortoise kind of candidate. >> do not write him off. 1988, bill clinton actually booed at the democratic convention. four years later he was their saving grace. he was so bad that he actually went on "the tonight show". >> johnny carson thing turned

over the timer thing. >> he was a punchline. and senator schumer, you know this. politics, things can change. you know rupert murdoch, he's from new york, you're from new york. >> yep. >> spent a lot of time with him. he could endorse a republican. he could endorse a democrat. i think it's all safe for us to say around this table here he's not going to endorse rand paul. >> he's a neocon. rand paul is the opposite. i don't think he'd bring himself to trust rand paul's instincts. but to go there, that was a smart political move for both of them. i admire that. one thing on the republican nominee in perry. he may be the comeback kid. here's the problem. the republican party needs to be somewhere in the middle. romney was sort of perry-like. but unless you move a little bit to the middle in the general election, you lose the only two candidates who have pushed the tea party off. christie, jeb bush. i don't think another candidate's going to come close

to -- >> mitt romney is a creature of the middle and he lost. >> he wasn't. >> john mccain was a creature of the middle and he lost. bob dole was, he lost. >> different america. it is. >> no, senator. >> yes. >> we are one america. >> hey, joe. hey, joe. could you imagine the chuck schumer ads that are going to get run against them? he just endorsed chris christie. >> no. they can push off the tea party. that's true. >> note to self. always book chuck schumer after the white house correspondents dinner because he is loopy and possibly inebriated. >> any republican candidate that pushes off the tea party will not only lose the primary. even if they pass the primary -- you need both sides. >> that's why we're going to win. you can't push off the tea party

and win the general. >> senator, you know what? you're fighting the last war. >> okay. we'll see. we will see. pinky bet. >> oh, my god. okay. senator chuck schumer, thank you. chuck todd, thank you as well. we'll watch you on "the daily rundown" on msnbc this morning. ahead in our 8:00 hour, senator joe manchin and senator tim kaine. and army veteran wes moore with a special look at vets overcoming extreme obstacles when they return from serving abroad. plus democrats say republicans are just playing politics by harping on benghazi. our next guest says they're just afraid to confront the truth. republican congressman peter king standing by. and then louis takes us behind the scenes for a look at the white house correspondents dinner. his look. and it's awkward and weird and all over the place. >> louis, i'm sure zbln lots of

celebrities. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. >> it's a genuine thrill to be here in washington, d.c., the city that started the whole crack smoking mayor craze. between rob ford, justin bieber, and ted cruz, you just want to tell canada, hey, hey, relax. we already have a florida. ♪ [ male announcer ] staples has everything you need

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what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together reliably fast internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. only from xfinity. when salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready.

so he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting. and when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! he's a selling machine! put it there. and there, and there, and there. la quinta inns & suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you alert, only a laquinta.com! la quinta! ♪ i'm conscious there's another family at the heart of all of this. and that is the family of jean mcconville. let me be very clear. i am innocent in any attempts to abduct or kill mrs. mcconville.

i've worked with others for the return of the bodies of others killed during the conflict and secretly buried by the ira. i will continue to do so. >> that was leader gerry adams after being questioned for four days of the murder of a widow with ten children. joins us now, republican congressman peter king of new york. >> so peter, we're going to talking about benghazi in a minute here. but when i started reading these stories, it fascinated me. we're on opposite sides of this issue when they came to the united states and i was actually angry that gerry adams came to the united states. and we sat there and talked. but there's peace in northern ireland now. it's extraordinary what's happened there. and i must say, when i heard this news, i was shocked that

the government was going back to 19 1972, a time of war for a horrific act of murder where i don't think there was any pressing evidence that gerry adams had anything to do with that. it would be like trying to arrest in 1958 for attacks that went on before israel became a state. so set this -- explain this to me. what's going on there? isn't this going to upset the balance that's going on between protestants and catholics? >> it certainly can. and i've known gerry adams for over 30 years. this man has taken enormous risks for peace. you can talk to tony blair, to bill clinton. tony blair says how much he came to admire and respect gerry

adams. he's the one person who kept his word throughout this entire process. and he brought about peace at tremendous risk to himself. now, he was saying there's no evidence against him. the only alleged evidence i'm aware of is there's two people both of whom broke with adams because they were opposed to the peace process. and they were determined to get gerry adams. they made this on tape to boston college. they're both dead now. these are the hardliners who hated adams. >> they hated adams because he was forcing peace on the ira. >> exactly. >> that's what was so surprising to me. this is a guy who every day walks around with a target on his back because he dared to make peace in northern ireland. and he dared to move away from the violence of that conflict. a guy that walks around and is

literally risking his life for peace in ireland is a guy now being arrested by irish authorities. i don't get it. >> it makes no sense at all. he was a person that was shot in 1984, he was almost killed. now he's being targeted by the ira by elements of the ira who are opposed to the peace process with the british. so he has put himself at risk. i think what part of this is is it's going to win big in the elections coming up in two weeks. i think there are elements in the blish security apparatus who don't want to see adams achieve these victories and they have not gotten other what happened 40, 50 years ago when there was so much on all sides. just last week the british government said it would not

announce the massacre of 11 catholics in belfast was carried out by british paratrooper unit in the '70s. i agree, by the way. i think they should end the investigations and go forward. >> there are horrors on both sides. we are in a time of peace. it's so irony just last week a close friend of our family who is from northern ireland and very supportive of the catholic position was actually grumbling about that sinn fein and gerry adams went too far. i said who would you vote for if not him? he said i'm going to vote for sinn fein because we have to move forward. then he's arrested takes us back to 1972. i just don't get pit. >> i want to turn now to benghazi. house speaker john boehner is forming a select committee to

focus on the issue. he says the white house misled the american people by withholding documents related directly to the attack. democrats are indicating they actually might boycott the whole thing. >> i do not know why at all any democrat would want to participate in this by boycotting it it just becomes a redundant and partisan republican exercise. it's only a matter of time before democrats raise the follow question. would there be a select committee if it didn't want to have the power to subpoena the former secretary of state hillary clinton for obviously reasons pertaining to presidential politics. >> congressman king, it's willie. you said the idea of a boycott is wrong. you said it would be arrogant. you say democrats feel they have something to hide. what questions do you have left about benghazi? what do you think comes out of this select committee? what's left to know? >> first let me just talk about

what george said there. to me the purpose of a select committee is to bring all of the elements together. right now there's too many separate parts involved and the whole picture can never be brought together. a lot of questions here. one, i have real questions. where was general petraeus during the entire time of the talking points? and as you look at the talking points and e-mails back and forth, clearly what happened here i believe is there was an ere ro for. the state department did not provide enough security. i understand these things. instead of owning up to that, they went to the phony story about the video causing this spontaneous demonstration. and from there you had elements from the white house like ben rhodes and people in the state department working to come up with a narrative so susan rice would go on television and tell a story. there's always politics. joe and i have been involved in

a lot of political issues over the years, but i just feel when you're talking about four americans being murdered, the government, the president, the state department, the cia, the national security council have an obligation to tell the truth. and they have not done this to this time. >> i think it is hard to boycott something where four americans have died, you have an ambassador killed asked for more backup and support. even moving forward, how do we prevent this from happening in the future? i think it's going to be tougher for democrats. >> hard to do. though george's point about it being transparent as a matter of raw politics is true. to that point, one of the things that democrats and many others are concerned about is the notion this will be a transparently political exercise. and it will run on forever. so is there a way in which the select committee's duration could be limited so that you wouldn't be looking at the potential of an ongoing investigation that would go out all the way through the end of the 2016 campaign and

conceivably 2017 if hillary clinton does happen to run. she may be president and being investigated over this. >> i support the select committee. i think there cab time frame put into it. this should not go on forever. from a political point of view, i think the worst thing republicans could be seen as is somehow encouraging a political fight over the fact that four americans were murdered. because it is so serious, we have an obligation to make it work, to make it work in an effective and efficient way. support the people on the committee making sure they function in a professional way and we not turn it into some kind of a show. it should be out of the way before the 2016 elections are in high gear. no doubt about it. >> all right, congressman peter king, thank you very much. good to have you on. >> good to have you on. >> thank you, joe. our own louis was in washington for the white house correspondents dinner.

>> he deserves arresting. >> his 72-hour odyssey is still ahead on "morning joe." >> arresting would be too good for him. >> liverpool's manager is confident they'll finish on top of the epl despite manchester city. and later he's a self-described male model and author of "my dad is fat." >> we still act excited when we see fruit. we're like, yea fruit. at least it's not vegetables. because no one wants vegetables. when you're at a party and they have a vegetable tray, aren't you almost surprised? you're like, wow, that's a waste of money. i'd rather eat a candle. >> comedian jim gaffigan here in the 8:00 hour of "morning joe." ♪

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♪ well, good monday morning to you. let me give you your forecast to get you out the door. guthrie, oklahoma, this weekend. these brush fires started in a hurry. it started as a control burn.

i don't know why they were doing a controlled burn when it was 100 degrees and very windy. you can see how out of control it was. everything is bone try in kansas, oklahoma, and texas. expect a lot more in the way of brush fires in the days ahead. also we had this cool video from new mexico. a lot of solar flares as of light. the northern lights were spectacular over new mexico. got to see that in person once. 102 in wichita, kansas. it was very hot there. we're still very warm in the southern half of the country. chicago we're dealing with showers for you. new england, though, showers from yesterday are gone. we're going to clear it out there. we're still hot in the plains again today. just really a great lakes that we're watching the weather. overall looks like a quiet start to our work weekend. >> all right. up next, is the u.s. failing to lead from benghazi to ukraine republicans are openly questioning the white house's actions. chairman of the foreign affairs

committee, republican congressman ed royce joins us next. and at the top of the hour, just how far are democrats willing to go on negotiating the minimum wage? senator joe manchin will join us with his solution in a bit. >> i'm going to ask him if he's leaving washington any time soon so move back to west virginia. >> keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪ okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu.

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♪ with us now we have the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, u.s. congressman from california. >> hello, ed. >> we had somebody on the set before say if only somebody like you were put in charge of the benghazi hearings, it would be less ideological and more

americans might pay attention to it. what do you think? >> i think what we need to do is get our hands on the documents that the white house has been withholding. i mean, that's probably what the american people want to see. so regardless of who chairs, the question is what type of cooperation are we going to see out of the white house. and waiting 20 months to finally release some of these documents and only after a request, that leaves everybody questioning. >> why is it important? democrats think this is overally ideological. why is it important to have a select committee? >> well, you had four americans die there. you had a political spin that went on for months and months at least through the election trying to assert that, you know, this was about a very different reality than the one on the ground. when it happened on the ground as you talked before, it was a terrorist attack. this is not what the administration wanted to spin to

the public. so that's a political act. >> what's the theory beyond the question of how the talking points are put out by administrations all the time. it was a political campaign. there was a lot of uncertainty in the immediate aftermath about what happened. what's the theory of critics about what would be recevealed the worst case scenario? what's the dark part of what the failure was that happened? >> the conspiracy is the coverup itself, right? but if you want to call it a conspiracy. i don't know what else you -- what other conclusion you want to come to. you had a situation where you had people on the ground who needed to be defended. and you had a political act in the white house where they decided not to provide the assistance prior to the attack despite all the evidence and afterwards decided to say this wasn't because it wasn't an al qaeda attack at all. it wasn't a terrorist attack at

all. it was spontaneous. >> we had multiple investigations of what happened in benghazi, right? media investigations, congressional investigations. >> and for the first time we get some insight into how they were trying to spin this as a political argument that get out there and emphasize, efmphasize this was not a failure of policy. yes, it was. it was a failure also to listen to your ambassador and other people on the ground who wanted the assets to help defend that compound. this is a real issue. >> at that point in time, what was our libyan policy? obviously ambassador stevens knew what he was getting into it. this was a country he had deep roots and ties to. but we all know from the coverage that got us to that point, the complete chaos that libya was. so if you're talking about a policy failure that led to some type of conspiracy, what is the

policy failure? >> the policy failure here is not listening to your assets on the ground. you heard the deputy chief admission, his testimony in the senate. you recall he relaid all the attempts to get things in place to defend. we now began to see that ran with the political spin that the administration was trying to sell at the time. that's one of the reasons, apparently, why they wouldn't allow the defense of the -- of the compound with the additional assets that might have protected those four americans. >> with hindsight being 20/20 in all of this, is the main reason this is flooked at now is becaue it's under hillary clinton who might be running in 2016. >> don't you think the main interest is it took 20 months to get to the bottom of this with a request that was made by an outside organization despite the fact that congress including my committee had requested these documents.

if you wait 20 months to get a document, it's a question in terms of what the administration is up to in not coming clear with the oversight responsibilities that congress has here. >> all right, ed. thank you so much. and again, the most important thing both sides have to remember so much. again, the most important thing both sides have to remember, four americans dead. that's what we have to focus on and figure out how we make sure it never happens again. >> congressman ed royce, thank you very much. >> thank you, ed. >> coming up, liverpool hopes to win its first championship in three years. roger bennett skipping into the room. i have no idea what he's about to say because i can never understand him. ♪ where did you go, where did you go ♪ when the world called for speed... ♪ ...when the world called for stealth... ♪ ...intelligence...

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goal! >> of course we're looking at, well, ronaldo, the man i love to hate. first of all, i was cheering

wildly for your everton, cupcakes and they let me down. >> liverpool, they were play, manchester city, they're title rivals. 11 minutes later, sergio skated through the everton back line as if he was patrick cane on ice skates. i cannot tell if he's a brilliant man with awful moments or an awful money with brilliant moments. manchester city ended up winning this 3-2. they have two games left in the season. if they win them both, it not looking good for liverpool. >> no, it's not. but anything can happen.

mourniho. >> just don't do that. that's the buckner slip. >> 16 seasons he's dreamed of winning it. he gave the speech, "let's not let it slip lads" and then -- >> i was just saying i thought at first this was the bill buckner moment for liverpool. it wasn't the bill buckner moment because he wasn't the heart and soul of the organization for 16 years. it would be as if ted williams dropped a fly ball for the last out in the world series and stopped the red sox from

winning. stevie g, to fall -- >> it's proof that god exists. >> oh, my god, what is wrong with you all? >> nbc sports, lever pool plays crystal palace. >> your prediction? >> i think anybody but arsenal will win. >> roger, thank you very much. >> mika, you are lovely. thank you are having me on. >> did you understand what he said? >> not a single word. >> as soon as the cameras go off, she's hammering me for information on norwich city. she knows more than she let's on. >> i do, i do.

>> and coming up, senator joe manchion and -- >> some of us have to settle down, i like to dip my pizza in ranch dressing. do you know how they make ranch dressing? butter milk and sadness. alright, that should just about do it. excuse me, what are you doing? uh, well we are fine tuning these small cells that improve coverage, capacity and quality of the network. it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network.

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reason good evening, mr. president, or as paul ryan refers to you, another minority that relies on the government to feed and house your family. >> no respect from his boss, no chance to get ahead. i really wish eric cantor would stop writing me. [ laughter ] you can just pick up the phone, eric. >> governor, do you want bridge jokes or size jokes? i can go both. i can go half and half. i know you like the combo joke. i'm sorry, governor christie, i

didn't know i was going to tell it. whoever wrote it will be fired. so i will be a man and own up to it just as soon as i know how it happened. and if i find any wrong doing on my part, i assure you i will be dealt with. i just looked into it, it turns out i'm not responsible for it. justice has been served. >> can we just celebrate these pictures, by the way? it is so beautiful outside. after six months of just absolute garbage. look at that view, beautiful sunrise over the mall. it just gorgeous. >> and senator from west virginia joining the table, joe manchin. and the birthday boy, visor to

president george bush, -- >> 5/5/55. >> 55, wow. >> no, i'm 59 but i was born 5/5/55. >> we have chuck todd joining us as well. >> let's just talk a minute about chris christie. he actually -- he really looked good, he was in a good place, the jokes rolled right off of his back. we talked to him, we were going back and forth, we had a lively exchange -- >> i got right in his face. >> mark told this shot. we were debating book sells in new hampshire. he said i was selling a lot of books in new hampshire. i said i can sell more books in new hampshire than you. very good sense of humor. he seems to be in a good place,

mika. >> everyone talks about fat jokes and whether or not they're appropriate. >> i don't appreciate it because look at this picture. i've lost weight, okay? i'm not that fat. >> look at mika in that picture. look at how angry you look. you look scowling. >> well, it's a long story. there was a lot going on there. >> it's a party, mika. have fun! >> the first part of rehabilitation is the ability to laugh at yourself. >> that's a good point, though. i'll tell you something else he's doing. he is staying away, he's working in jersey, like we said he should. he's not going on national shows, he's keeping his head down. i thought for me a moment when i was just reading the "new york times" a couple weeks ago and there's this long story on bridgegate and whatever they call it. i get halfway through the story

and i go vladimir putin is in russia right now. i don't want to keep obsessing about two lanes being closed back in november. and if i'm thinking about that as an analyst, i'm thinking a lot of americans are thinking, okay, fine, if he told the truth, let's move on. >> right, birthday boy? >> yeah, he's moving on. i think it's on to the next act. >> i don't know about that. i would say he looked physically terrific. we'll really happy for him about that. chuck todd, chris christie in terms of his appearance there and the whole story of chris christie being the butt of some jokes, what do you make of what happened over the weekend? >> that one joel mchale riff that you guys played, that was brilliant. that was just really well delivered. he hit the timing and it was pretty funny. but i agree with you. i saw governor christie.

first of all, you can tell he's losing weight, he looks physically -- >> terrific. >> he's absolutely making progress. kudos to him. congratulations to the governor on that front. you're right, he looked like he was comfortable. he got a ton of incoming. you thought maybe that's three, four monies old, is that going to resonate. that one riff by mchale was hilarious. were like, my god, i think governor christie got picked on too much. >> i was sort of flinching. >> it oddly sort of helped him. >> apparently he took the jokes much better than our good friend donald. >> yes, he did. >> so joe manchion, let me ask you something, are you thinking

about leaving all of this stuff in washington, d.c., heading back home to west virginia? >> the only thing i have said is it not been a very productive time the last three and a half years. i said i want to contribute more. so i keep all options open. >> you can do something good every day, feeling like you've made a difference in someone's life, waking up excited to go to work given. i want to feel that given. i'm going to wait to 2014 to see what shakes out. i have a better platform in the senate to make a difference in the world, my country and my state. but if the leaders don't get together and it just going to be stalemate, i have to rethink it, too. i'm not a spring chicken anymore. >> you look great. >> you are a spring chicken.

come on. >> it's just a very dysfunctional place and culturally an unpleasant place to. a lot of people say, man, this is not a fun place to work. how much worse is it than you expected it to be? >> i didn't know what to expect from this standpoint. i always thought it was the highest honor in our country's public service to be able to serve in the senate. i keep hearing people say, well, it used to be that way in the good old days, it used to be this way. well, i've not been there when anything worked. where i come from from west virginia, you don't embarrass people and attack people every day and then expect to work with them. >> i'm expected to basically sit down across the aisle and raise

money against them and what's most important? the country moving forward? the bess government is good politics. >> and minimum wage, i asked chuck schumer earlier, can we get a compromise, democrats over $10, republicans still fighting. do you think there as a compromise, maybe $8.50, $9, throw in keystone, both side, compromise? whatever helps workers? >> keystone will be by itself -- >> will keystone pass by itself? >> it should pass. it passed last year by 62 votes. >> why isn't it passing? ilt ridiculous. >> no one can give me a good explanation why. >> let's go behind closed doors. is this really all about donors on the far left pushing democratic senators from doing what they know? >> those are donors that i don't know very well.

>> that's good. >> so i can't spack from that side of the bench, okay. with that being said, it doesn't make any sense and i don't think it helps democrats, especially democrats in challenging areas so we've got to move forward. 10.10 is great but if we can't get it, give me something. >> chuck todd did you want to check in. >> i want to ask you this, senator. you're not the first former governor who comes to the senate and says, oh, my god, what have i gotten myself into? there's a wheel caucus of you guys, about 10 or 12 of ex-governors serving as senators and you guys are the ones that sort of feel the dysfunction than others. because you were executives, you got to make aity signatures and see it implemented whereas here

you make a decision and see what government does with it. i understand that. why can't you guys get together and become a powerful caucus, lamar alexander, yourself, uch got mark warner. you guys are sort of are center left or center right in some ways. why aren't you banding to the and trying to become two pushbacks at harry reid and mitch mcconnell? >> we have formed a caucus and we are working together. some of those senators are not you for reelection. their state and their populous and basically where they have to be. the ten of us said, listen, we're going down this road together, swim or sink together, it would chang the whole country and change the world. i'm hoping we can break out of

this. it's becoming more contentious. no matter what happens, this election is going to be tight. no one is going to have 60 votes. people in the middle are going to start leading because the bottom lien is we've got to move forward on issues and the economy and the jobs -- >> so let's look at the landscape because new indicators are showing rough waters ahead in the mid terms. a pugh/"usa today" poll said republicans have their biggest advantage in decades. numbers show voters shifting away from democrats over the last six months. the number of democrats voting in the mid terms in support of the president's record has fallen 16 points since the 2010 elections. the number of republicans voting against his agenda have increased. still the president's approval is 39 points higher than

president bsh's rating. 65% are saying it's time for different policies under president obama. >> here's the "usa today" poll, they talk about how democrats in many ways are in worse shape than they were in between. but you know what? i remember 1994 and how it felt that year. i remember 2006 when democrats swept. you sure remember what it felt like that year. i remember what it felt like in 2010. all three of those years, i felt it coming. i'll be honest with you, i don't feel that. when i go out there, i don't feel -- i don't feel what i felt those three years. i remember telling republican friends in the beginning of 2006, don't run. brother, you're going to get killed. don't run. they ran, they got killed. i don't feel -- that doesn't man republicans aren't going to win. i'm just saying at this point in the election process, it doesn't feel like 2010.

>> there's a little uptick in the economy if it continues. >> listen, i got to get more than three words out of mark mckinnon. i know it his birs day. >> maybe he's already prepared for it and that's why he doesn't want to talk on the air. how do you feel about republicans this year? is it going to be a big year or not? >> i don't think it going to be a tsunami but i think the republicans will keep the house and have control of the senate. i think they'll have control of boat john mccain jis. >> just very quickly, i think the reason you dent feel that way is when we normally have these wave years, the party that catches the wave has been out of power.

the question is are voters so enamored with the party so-called out of power but are republicans fully seen as out of power or do they share some of the blame for the discussion in washington. i also remember 1998 when we were so so sure we were going to have a repeat of '94 and there would be an impeachment and it blew up in their face. what do you think? >> i simply look at the quality of the candidates we have. weep have the candidates in the most contentious races in the moderate, middle range. these are problem solvers able to work with us. when you look at kay haguen and mary landrieu, i think they'll success and they'll win.

it will be close but these are the time of people need to keep in the senate. they're quality people that can work with both sides. they're not to the far left, for right. >> quick un-for-hypothetical. if you were running for election this year, one, would you ask the president to come campaign for you in west virginia -- >> no. >> and, two, would you run away from obamacare or would you embrace it in part or embrace it in whole? >> you can't go back to having the most expensive health care in the world and being 34th in the world in terms of longevity. i wouldn't have voted for what we had today. but what the problem and the

market as got to match up. if the product doesn't fit the market, the market will change the product. we basically have to get toward wellness. >> i to ask this following kwe following up. after newtown, when you go back, comfortably, if i ran into a republican primary anywhere in america, i would comfortably go and campaign on background chests for criminal will you comfortably take the position that ronald reagan took? >> i go back every day and talk common sense. >> and your nra friends understand it. you tell me you want to sell your gun that you have done know, sell your goon to someone you've never met on the internet but on the other hand i'm a law abiding gun owner, i'm not going to send it to a stranger or

convicted felon or somebody who is not mentally stable or give it to a family member who is not worthy of it. if that's the case, don't you expect me to do the right thing on the internet? common sense is common sense. yes, it is. >> and your friends in west virginia -- >> i love joe. he's reasoning for governor, did you hear? >> happy birthday! >> mckinnon's been hanging out in colorado a lot. up know what that means. >> yeah, but he didn't need a law. >> coming up, wes moore joins us about his project on veterans and jim gaffigan will be here on set. be right back. weekdays are for rising to the challenge.

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all right. joining us now. from richmond's member of the armed services committee, senator t senator, you are ready for hillary. >> i am ready for hillary. >> what's her message? >> her message is she has the best experience both domestically and internationally. she has got the accumulated backbone, wisdom, judgment, scar

tissue to be the best president of the united states beginning in 2017. >> okay. >> he made the time limit. >> okay. you made some really good points about her, which i would agree with in many ways. but that's not the message. what's the message? >> i think best qualified is the message. best qualified is the message. this is something i thought a lot about. of everybody out there who could run, who is thinking about running for president, she is the best person to be the 45th president. a and also the relationship she has with leaders. but it's going to be hard. 2016 is facing off against the super pac sludge factory.

if it was easy for a woman to be president, there would have been a woman president. if she's the right person and if it's going to be hard, the best thing i can do is get out early and start pushing. that's why i did it. >> not that there's anything wrong with it. another part of it is that she can win. >> my sense is i don't know national politics as well as i know virginia politics, but virginia is an important bellwether state. i feel confident if she runs she will win virginia's electoral votes and i think that means she has a great chance of being successful. >> obviously senator clinton looks incredibly strong right now for the democratic primaries and also the general election potentially for 2016 but nobody gets a free ride. >> absolutely. >> who do you think in the

democratic field is likely to step up and run besides senator clinton? >> i've heard a lot of folks thinking of running, the vice president, governor o'malley, schweitzer and others. some of it may depend on whether secretary clinton runs or not. there will be competition. we're democrats. that's the way we do things. i don't have inside intel about her decision-making process. i would suspect she wouldn't decide until later in the year. there's a lot of names out there. no one has asked me for my support, even secretary clinton hasn't asked me for support. but in thinking about who might run, i think she would be our best president, our best candidate and i want to encourage others to do what i've done and get on board. >> this is robert thomas. you're trying to draft hillary into the race.

so hillary is not ready for hillary, though you are. and i say republicans are ready because they want to continue talking about benghazi. as this continues to play out, this will be what happened in benghazi as long as republicans and reporters are interested in digging. >> hey, tom, ahomas, i think wet to be talking about bends but i think we ought to be talking about how to make sure it never happens given. coincidentally, later today i'm going to a former army base in virginia, fort pickett. i've worked with the state department to help them make plans for an embassy training facility there. we ought to be talking about how to reduce the chances of violence at our embassies around the world and how to make sure

our people are safe. the congress is focused a little more on the blame game and that's not the issue here. >> senator kaine, come join us on set sometime. >> thank you. >> coming up, wes moore. and then expert food consumer jim gaffigan joins us with more of -- oh, that's not good. don't do that. don't do that. it's my book but that is so bad what you're eating. we'll be right back with more identify morning joe." ♪ everybody needs a place to rest, everybody wants to have a home ♪ ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪

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want to get to the documentary and the issues challenging our vets. but first let's get to afghanistan. i don't think we ought to have tripled the number of troops in afghanistan, i think americans should have started to come home in 2009. but you're concerned about what's happening with the cia also, reports they're pulling back. you think they need to keep their footprint in afghanistan? >> this is trying to show a light on the reality that the vast majority of americans in afghanistan fligright now are n civilians. they're military, they're contractors. over the next years, we're going to have presidential elections

where we're concerned about who is going take control of the country, the largest population growth within afghanistan and massive amounts of troops and u.s. contractors are leaving. >> isn't it time for americans to come home after 12, 13 years of war? >> absolutely. i've been in complete agreement on the fact that -- no one expected the wars to be this long, this expensive and this damaging. the question becomes what exactly do we hope and what do we expect from afghan going forward? whether or not that's a kinetic question or a political question. >> what are the longer term prospects from afghanistan five years, ten years out and what are the biggest challenges? >> the prospect unfortunately are not very good. the question is are they any better now than five years ago, then ten year ago.

we could put a million troops on the ground in afghanistan. the question of afghanistan is never going to be a military solution, it's a political solution. >> let's talk about the military solution, what we're doing as a country for our returning vets and what we're not doing for our returning vets. coming back with wes moore, as you know, we're losing 20 vets a day to suicide. what are you revealing to all of us? >> with coming back, i wanted to show a sense of humanity of what we're talking about. these have been the nation's longest wars in the history of our country. the fact is the vast majority of americans have had zero connection to them. we wanted to add a as soon as of hu -- sense of humanity.

we have vets coming back with significant challenges that we are now responsible for because these are veterans who when were asked, stepped up. we have extraordinary men and women coming back with great skill sets we have to utilize better. >> there's a scandal going on in va centers, are things getting better there in terms of dealing with back log, all the medical issues and all the stuff that department's been so criticized for. are we seeing progress? >> the truth is we're seeing progress but it's still not fast enough. when we have situations where you have veterans who are waiting 36 months in order to so a doctor, we know we still got work to do.

the truth is, when our nation needed our veterans, we didn't ask our nation to wait. we stepped up instantaneously. so why when they come home are we asking them to wait. of lot of this comes down to the duration of the wars. i've been meeting with families and v.a.s all over the country. last week there were about 250 vets in a room. i said how many of you would have expected if i asked you 12, 13 years ago we'd still be in afghanistan? three people raised their hands. we also want more communication. a lot of veterans are waiting for feedback. we want to know what happens and

what's going to do so this does not happen giveagain. >> the phoenix story is horrific. for that to be the back story, it's shameful. wes moore, it premieres next tuesday at 8:00 p.m. "coming back" with wes moore. >> recently they introduced a breakfast hot pocket, finally! i can't think of a better way to start the day. good morning! you're about to call in sick. ♪ hot pocket." >> jim gaffigan is here on set with food. just like mika, he's obsessed. well, he's studying the hot

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the app makes it easy. the power of angie's list makes it work. download snapfix for free. recently i saw an apple. and for a moment, just a moment, i didn't recognize. i'm like what is that? oh, that's an apple! so used to seeing it in a pie. is peeling an orange even worth it? there's not even chocolate in this. some people use gathering apples as an activity. why don't we go apple picking? because i'd rather die. >> i disagree. apple picking is fun.

>> that was a clip from the comedy special of jim gaffigan. a year ago mika put out a book that's literally changed the way -- >> comes out in paperback tomorrow. >> she poured her heart out and talked about her struggles with food, jim gaffigan, come on, call the freaking lawyers! >> it's amazing. we're both blond, both our fathers were part of the carter administration. >> he's just making it up right now. >> polish. >> no, what is that about? i'm like the anti-mika. you play those clips and i'm like this is just embarrassing. and then the hot pocket thing. >> what is the hot pocket? >> where's barnicle? >> that's a good question. he's reading mika's book in a bar right now, eat being fruits and vegetables. >> i do the audio version of

mika's book. >> oh, do you? what an awful thought. >> tell us about this. the food obsession continues. my sons and i have been following your hot pocket obsession for decades now. >> i deal with hard hitting issues with food. everything you want to do, i kind of explore answered just can't stop because it either that or feel my feelings, right? >> let me talk about the hot pocket, if i could. have you had the pizza in a pocket? because it's good. >> they had these out and i was tempted to bite into one but i don't want to have to run off in the middle of a segment. >> hot pockets is in the news more often than lindsey lohan. >> don't, mika, don't! you'll have to write another

book. >> i could eat this entire plate of hot pockets. >> doesn't do it! >> num, num, num. >> this is from the recall batch, right? >> breaking news. they discovered some of the meat was bad in hot pockets. >> they have meat in hot pockets? and people that eat hot pockets already knew. michelle obama is rolling offve in her bed right now. how dare you are eat that? >> i could eat ten of those. >> what else do you talk about? >> i talk about weddings being absurd. >> why are weddings absurd? >> because they're ridiculous. >> i agree. but tell us why. >> it's prehistoric, medieval ceremony where daughters were exchanged as property yet over

the course of centuries, it got worse. it's out of control what we do at weddings. joe, i didn't know we were going to talk about that. >> i haven't laughed once here. you're freaking out at this sight here. >> you're seeing a transformation here. >> it's a food coma. >> there's something that happens when you take a bite into a hot pocket, something that's so processed and so bad for you that you feel good. there's sugar in here, you know that? a lot. >> mika, i think you'd be better off if you were wearing a pair of gloves when you ate that. >> it brings you back to bad things. >> jim, you have a new pilot coming out, hopefully? >> please take it away. >> it features you living in an apartment with five kids, two bedrooms, the wife, the kids. >> we had a two bedroom and we finally moved. we're now in a one bedroom.

>> career's going well, huh? >> so the pilot is -- i mean, it's a long shot but it's about my life being the father of five kids. >> it's an early standout. early standout. >> look at that family. >> somewhere in iowa, they created the hamburger called the gaffigan undead burger? >> yes. it's a zombie burger in demoan. >> your wife is adorable. how did you get her? >> brainwashing. >> maybe it was one of those traditional weddings you talk about. >> the burger, there's five patties, one for each of my children. there's jalapenos because i'm a spicy latina and cheddar because

i'm a hot latina. >> thank you for stealing the title of my book. i love it. we should go on tour. jim gaffigan "obsessed." your children are adorable, your wife is beautiful. >> on the loose in washington. it just not right. i'm not sure about this but we'll have his report from the white house correspondents dinner coming up next. wondering what that is? that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase. not just "everything at the hardware store." not "everything, until you hit your cash back limit." quicksilver can earn you unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you could possibly imagine. say it with me -- everything. one more time, everything!

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he said i was supposed to get up here and make the press laugh. there's nothing i like better than a challenge. >> what began as an intimate affair between the president and press has evolved into a big weekend. >> technology is playing a role in all of government and society. >> we just came from a party where we saw the cast of veep and the cast of "house of cards"

all interacting with each other and it kind of blew my mind. >> if i could make a law, it would be that there is always a working budget. >> it is nerd problems. >> i am a nerd. >> there's nothing about my prom that was strong, man. >> organization, it's been a while. >> so the party's all weekend long at the white house correspondent dinner. but the brunch is the one you just don't want to miss. because jeffrey tambore is here. >> hi, joe! >> the best thing is that you always use this weekend to do something positive. >> today we're talking about dog tag bakery. it's a new bakery in georgetown. we're going to take disabled veterans and spouses and teach them how to bake and georgetown university continuing education program is going to teach them

how to be entrepreneurs. >> tammy's right, it is a great cause. you're trying to change veterans lives and their spouses so they can become contributing members to society. >> i wore the same dress as the girl who stole my boyfriend. >> my prom, i didn't get any. >> if you could change one law, what would be it? >> i would abolish the death penalty. >> you might as well throw in legalize pot. >> i would make sure no setting member of congress would never be able to go out and campaign against another sitting member. >> free ice cream every day! >> the eagle has landed.

let's go eat. >> it's a century-old tradition and one thing hasn't changed. it's all about who gets the last laugh. >> my favorite bit of yours was when you said you'd close the detention center at guantanamo bay? that was a good one. >> these days they give john boehner a harder time than they give me. that means the orange is the new black. and gridlock has gotten so bad, you have to wonder, what did we do to piss chris christie off? >> what's the strongest moment from your prom that you can remember? >> i didn't go to my prom.

i stayed home and watched "60 minutes" with my dad. >> i went to the prom, i had a girl, she said yes, i showed up, i killed it. there's nothing else to remember. >> i'm definitely not a nerd. she is. >> i'm a nerd actually, yeah. >> if there's one takeaway from the weekend, play like a champion. >> well, clayton, it's been one hell of a ride. >> we're not going to get our deposit back. ♪ ♪ >> was that clayton? >> i think that was dayton. >> look at louis. >> is that real tequila? >> it is. ready? >> oh, that's awful. >> okay, it's time for chuck. >> everybody that goes to the white house correspondent dinner, most people actually

never went to their prom so it really is like nerd prom. >> what do you get? >> that louis is the most charming idiot i know. happy birthday, man! >> thank you. >> 5/5/55. >> i want to salute great veterans. >> thank you. >> thomas? >> it's learned it's mark's birthday and louis smells like a gutter in tijuana. >> all right. chuck todd is next! second his room is ready. you know what he brings? any questions? can i get an a, steve? yes! three a's! he brings his a-game! the ready for you alert, only at laquinta.com!

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